PaulS:
Why are you hung up on using NodeJS, whatever it is?
Its beside Websockets the biggest thing since years: https://www.udemy.com/blog/learn-node-js/
Johnny-Five at NodeConf 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf-cEB3U2UQ
@neilff, i don't know what exactly you want to do. Johnny-Five is great but i think for stuff like Home Automation i don't
like the idea of having the logic on the Server.
I'm also locking for the best way for my interface and i thing MQTT is the way to go.
With Johnny-Five there is to much data if you want to use Ethernet.
I also thing MQTT is more secure: IBM's Andy Piper (Part 2): How MQTT Averts a 'Thing-in-the-Middle' Attack - ReadWrite
At the moment I'm testing HiveMQ with Paho MQTT JavaScript Client (Eclipse/IBM).
HiveMQ has build in Websocket and there is no need for other stuff like node.js, socket.io, Mosquitto...
Sure you need a machine running with a MQTT Broker (HiveMQ) and for me the decision to make now
is if i use Paho MQTT JavaScript (client-side) or node.js (server-side).